Fourscore and Seven Years Ago; Now- Seven Score and a Decade beyond

No Gravatar

Who is wise?  S/He who learns from everyone.

These words from the Talmud (Gmara) remind us that we are never the smartest person in the room.  We always can learn from another.  Today, I will share words of wisdom from two great people- Rabbi Avi Weiss and President Abraham Lincoln.

A few weeks ago, I was able to spend a weekend with Rav Weiss.  He had many things to share and I learned (and re-learned) many great concepts.  One that he taught me is à propos today.

The United States of America.

The United States: These are the 50 states, the District, and the other territories.  The governments, the people who comprise that government, with all the trimmings thereto.  The messiness of government, the imperfect ways it works, the provisions of laws and benefits afforded its citizens.

America: This is the ideal of our country.  It’s the brand we display for ourselves and the world.  The American Dream.  It’s why our songs are all to America, not the United States.  America, the Beautiful. The “banner” of the land of the free and the home of the brave.

We have ideals to which we aspire.  We have a heritage to which we must remain true.  And, today… no, not today.  150 years ago on this day, President Lincoln offered a short prayer- yes, prayer, not a speech- that every child in America (not the United States) learns by heart.

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

No one is better.  Which is why corporations are not people.  Because they don’t go to jail when they do something wrong.  No corporation has been executed by Texas.  It’s the people of America that are equal.  If they aren’t, it’s our job to make it so.

The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.

How wrong that was.  We do remember these words.  It brings tears to my eyes and a pang in my heart every time I hear them.  And, we rarely recall the sacrifices made by the largest group of Americans to ever die in a single battle for our dream to survive.  We should.

It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.

It resonates with me because it is the closest secular statement I have ever seen reflecting the commandment of Tikun Olam.  The repair, the act of perfecting this imperfect world in which we live.

…government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

There is nothing one could add to this prayer- except for our actions to insure it becomes reality.

Take a moment today and remember that America is not even a dozen score years old.  We have come far- and have far to go.

 To make the United States and America to be one and the same.

PRESIDENT LINCOLN AT GETTYSBURG, 1863
PRESIDENT LINCOLN AT GETTYSBURG, 1863 (Photo credit: roberthuffstutter)

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate — we can not consecrate — we can not hallow — this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

Enhanced by Zemanta
Share this:
Share this page via Email Share this page via Stumble Upon Share this page via Digg this Share this page via Facebook Share this page via Twitter
Share

4 thoughts on “Fourscore and Seven Years Ago; Now- Seven Score and a Decade beyond”

Comments are closed.